Where Fiction Is the Reality…

Ethan Stone’s Not “Damaged”, He Just Wants To Give Away A Book

TNA: Hi, Ethan, thanks so much for being here with us today. Let’s start right in with the questions.

Who would you say is your biggest influence as a writer? Do you have a favorite author(s) who inspired you to become a writer yourself?

ES: Marie Sexton is a good friend and I knew her before she was published. She urged me to write and publish and my first book wouldn’t be half as good without her advice.

TNA: What was your first published book? Did the idea for the story come to you slowly, or was it in a burst of inspiration?

ES: In the Flesh was my first full-length novel published. The idea started with a name—Cristian Flesh. After the name came his looks, then his attitude and so forth.

TNA: If you could go back in time, to the moment you sat down to begin writing that first book, what’s the one piece of advice you’d give yourself?

ES: I’d tell myself to dump the loser boyfriend I had at the time and maybe not waste the next several years of my life.

TNA: Let’s chat about your Uniformity series. Will you tell us a little bit about it and how you came up with the idea for the story?

ES: I worked at a maximum security prison for seven years and in that time met so many different people, staff and inmates, that I had lots of different ideas. Writing about the prison is easy in some aspects and difficult in others. I have lots of plot ideas, but writing about it realistically doesn’t always translate into good fiction. Most of the time the job was rather boring and repetitive.

TNA: How many books do you have the series planned out to?

ES: I don’t have a set number for the series. It depends on the characters, who speak to me and tell me what their story is.

TNA: Would you care to share an excerpt from one of the books with us?

ES: Sure. This is from Damaged.

The Blurb: Correctional Officer Zane Davis didn’t think commitment was in the cards but when he meets Brett Emerson everything that once seemed impossible is now all he can think about.

Correctional Officer Zane Davis thought being bi-sexual and afraid of commitment meant he was destined to be alone until he meets someone who changes everything.

There is an instant attraction when Zane meets Brett Emerson on the job. The fact that Brett is engaged to a woman doesn’t dampen Zane’s attraction. Brett and Zane become friends as they also work to uncover corruption at the prison. The friendship deepens and turns to romance, but will Zane survive the danger he puts himself in when he finds out how far up the corruption goes?

He turned to face me as he reached out and touched my hand. “I want to go home.”

The hope I’d told myself not to have floated away. “I’ll call a cab to take you home.” I reached for my cell phone.

“I meant your home, Zane. With you.”

I was speechless. Hell, I couldn’t move. He slowly edged forward until his lips were inches from mine. I was sure we were going to be interrupted again, but finally our lips met. The kiss was hesitant and quick and he pulled away. I was disappointed at first, but quickly realized a bar bathroom wasn’t the place for us to explore.

“You call a cab,” I said. “I’ll tell the girls goodbye and meet you outside.”

I stepped out of the club a few minutes later and found Brett leaning against the wall. I fought the urge to step up and kiss him. Damn it, I wanted him so much. I wanted to rub against him, feel every inch of his body.

“How’d the girls take it?”

“I didn’t have to say anything. They were already dancing with a couple other guys.”

He chuckled.

The cab pulled up a few minutes later and we climbed in. I told the driver my address and we took off. I rested my hand on the seat between myself and Brett. My heart soared and body shivered when his hand touched mine and squeezed.

It took all my strength not to grab him there in the cab. Instead, I gripped his hand. Our eyes met and we both smiled.

I gave the cabbie two twenties, not worrying about the fifteen-dollar tip because I didn’t want to wait for change. My hands trembled as I got my keys out and fumbled to get the door open.

The minute we were inside, I grabbed Brett and kissed him. Holding his body against mine, I rubbed his back. I was afraid I was being too forceful but I didn’t want to stop and give him a chance to change his mind. Praying he would tell me to stop if he wanted me to, I continued touching and kissing him. His mouth opened and we pushed our tongues together.

I wanted to get him to the bedroom but also didn’t want to break the contact so I pushed him to the couch and gently laid him down, resting my body on his. I dry-humped him, wishing we didn’t have two layers of jeans between us but loving what touch we did have.

After I reached up his shirt, I rubbed a nipple. He moaned and arched up against me. I kissed and bit his neck and he grabbed my head to urge me on.

“Oh, fuck, Zane, fuck, fuck, fuck.”

We kissed and rubbed and touched and suddenly Brett froze. A look of ecstasy, then shame and embarrassment crossed his face. I felt a warmth in his jeans and realized he’d come.

“Shit, I didn’t want that to happen.”

“Don’t worry about it, Brett. I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

I sat up and he did the same. It was that awkward, post-orgasm silence that occurred sometimes.

“You want to take a shower?” I asked.

“Umm, together or alone?” I felt and heard the tension in his voice.

“Whatever you’re comfortable with.”

“Thanks, I think separate is best. If you don’t mind.” He ran a hand through his hair.

I chuckled. “Have I ever pushed you for something you’re not ready for?”

“No, I guess you haven’t. I appreciate that. You want to shower first?” he asked.

“Nah, you go.”

He stood, smiled at me then walked past me and into the bathroom. I wondered what was going to happen next. Would Brett want to continue what we had started or would he want to wait? I hoped he would at least want to explore things, even if it wasn’t right then.

Brett showered and came out wearing just a towel. “You have any clothes I can borrow? My pants are kind of…messy.”

I laughed. “Help yourself to anything in my closet. Feel free to throw your clothes into the washer.”

I showered quickly, so I could be back in the living room as soon as possible. I didn’t want to give Brett too much time to have second thoughts. But as soon as I saw him I knew it was too late.

He was wearing a pair of my sweat pants and a baggy T-shirt and sat in the recliner.

“Hi.” I sat down on the couch.

He looked at me a little sadly. “I enjoyed what we did but…”

“You aren’t ready for anything else?”

He nodded. “Not right now. I wish I was, but my head isn’t there yet. It would be easy to push myself and give in, but I think that would cause more damage.”

TNA: Do you think you might revisit the Flesh series anytime soon? If not, what do you think Christian is doing today? Are he and Colby still together and happy?

ES: I definitely want to revisit Flesh at some point, but I don’t know when. I’m sure Cristian and Colby are still together, no doubt about it. Are they happy? Well, I’m not sure Cristian will ever allow himself to be happy all the time. I would bet the duo is still having smoking hot sex.

TNA: If you could bring one of your characters off the page and into the real world, who would you choose and why?

ES: Jason from Past Tense. He has some cool super powers that would be fun to play around with.

TNA: What would you say are the best and worst parts of the writing process for you?

ES: The worst is trying to find the motivation and inspiration. The best is when I find those things and start writing and it’s all I want to do.

TNA: Are you a plotter or a pantser? Whichever you are, why do you feel that method works best for you?

ES: Total pantser. I have a general outline in my head but it’s not detailed at all. When I have tried to plot it out I lose the inspiration. I enjoy being surprised by characters as I go along.

TNA: If you could have one superpower, what would it be and why?

ES: I’d totally love to have the ability to fly. I’m not sure why, but I often fly in my dreams. It would be sweet to be able to float above everyone else.

TNA: If time travel were possible, where would you go and why?

ES: Depends if I’m allowed to change things or not. If I can I’d go back a couple months and convince my brother to go see a doctor and get his heart checked. If I can’t change things, I’d either go back and spend time with my brother and tell him I love him or go back even further and spend some time with my mother.

TNA: Would you care to share a little bit of information on any of your current WIPs?

ES: Totally Bound just accepted the third Uniformity book, Recruited. It’s due out in March or April. It stars an inmate named Dylan Hoss, who was a supporting character in Compromised and Damaged, and gets his own story and love interest. I’m also working on a paranormal story about a serial killer.

TNA: And finally, would you kindly share with us all the places we can find you on the internet?